Man-made ski slopes

ABSTRACT

A linear plastic structural shape, supporting the stems, having a width comprised between 0,4 and 2 cm and is arranged with like shapes so as to form a discontinuous surface defined by suitable geometrical figures which are variable depending on the type of sking for which the surface is designed. The linear shape has a rounded off upper surface or inclined walls. The discontinuous sliding surface is provided with empty or lightening zones of limited surface area which are delimited by the aforesaid shapes consisting of plastic and supporting the stems. The flexible stems, consisting also of plastic material, are fixedly secured perpendicular to the plastic shape, and have a conical, fractionated or feathered configuration, with the upper apexes rounded off, the length and width of the stems depending upon the type of skiing to be performed. The stems may be of the same or different lengths and may be joined or connected to each other at their upper ends.

United States Patent [1 1 Cima [ MAN-MADE SKI SLOPES [76] Inventor: Francesco Cima, 24015 San Giovanni Bianco, Italy [22] Filed: Apr. 5, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 241,228

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 8, 1971 Italy 2908/71 [52] US. Cl 161/62, 161/49, 161/63, 272/565 SS [51] Int. Cl B32b 3/06 [58] Field of Search 161/62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 161/67, 49; 272/565 SS [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,924,455 2/1960 Brunel 272/565 SS 3,312,583 4/1967 Rochlis.... 161/62 3,317,644 5/1967 Takai 161/62 3,350,092 10/1967 Maki 272/565 SS 3,443,493 5/1969 Piano et al.... 272/565 SS 3,574,107 4/1971 Hurka 161/67 3,673,056 6/1972 Nadler 161/64 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,070,971 6/1967 Great Britain 272/565 SS OTHER PUBLICATIONS Simpson, The Frozen Food Cookbook Ari Pub. Co.

[1t] 3,821,064 June 28, 1974 One. Westport, Conn. 1962, pages 166, 167, 171-173.

Primary Examiner-William J. Van Balen Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael S. Striker [5 7] ABSTRACT A linear plastic structural shape, supporting the stems, having a width comprised between 0,4 and 2 cm and is arranged with like shapes so as to form a discontinuous surface defined by suitable geometrical figures which are variable depending on. the type of sking for which the surface is designed. The linear shape has a rounded off upper surface or inclined walls. The discontinuous sliding surface is provided with empty or lightening zones of limited surface area which are delimited by the aforesaid shapes consisting of plastic and supporting the stems. The flexible stems, consisting also of plastic material, are fixedly secured perpendicular to the plastic shape, and have a conical, fractionated or feathered configuration, with the upper apexes rounded off, the length and width of the stems depending upon the type of skiing to be performed. The stems may be of the same or different lengths and may be joined or connected to each other at their upper ends.

25 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures RATENTEDJUH 28 m4 SHEET 2 OF 2 MAN-MADE SKI SLOPES This invention relates to man-made ski slopes, consisting of plastic shapes, and more particularly to a plastic shape, provided with a plurality of flexible stems, disposed orthogonally to the support plane of the shape itself.

This shape is particularly adapted for building manmade ski slopes for ski sporting purposes.

As is well known, there exists at present an ever growing and widespread desire to ski, both for agonistic and sporting purposes, possibly during any season of the year.

To this end, with a view to overcoming the lack of snow-covered tracks during the spring and summer seasons, man-made ski slopes have been built, over which it is possible to ski.

The functionality of the aforementioned ski slopes has been found thus far to be hardly satisfactory, principally due to the inadequate gripping capacity of the skis.

The ski slopes further generally have an excessive surface stiffness, which may lead to accidents in case of falls.

Furthermore, in the man-made ski slopes used heretofore the ferrules of the ski poles quite easily accidentally penetrate the structure building up the base of the ski slope itself and supporting the stems.

It is, therefore, a object of this invention to provide a novel plastic shape for use in a ski slope and which is not inconvenient and insures an adequate grip over the ski surface, thereby providing thereon a perfect edge hold.

it is another object of this invention to provide a ski slope, consisting of a novel structural shape, supporting the stems, having such a surface flexibility as to insure maximum safety in case of falls and having empty or lightening zones of limited surface area.

It is still a further object of this invention to prevent the ferrules of the ski poles from accidentally entering the structural shape itself which forms the basic structure of the ski slope.

These and further objects, which will become more apparent from a perusal of the following detailed description, are attained according to the present invention by using a man-made ski slope made up:

a. by a linear plastic structural shape, supporting the stems, having a width comprised between 0.4 and 2 cm. and disposed with similar shapes so as to form a discontinuous surface defined by suitable geometrical figures which vary depending upon the type of skiing for which the surface is designed, and having a rounded off upper surface or inclined walls;

b. by a discontinuous sliding surface, provided with empty or lightening zones 14 of limited surface area which are delimited by the aforesaid shapes consisting of plastic and supporting the stems;

. by flexible stems, consisting also of plastic material, which are fixedly secured perpendicular to the plastic shape and have a conical, fractionated or feathered configuration with the upper apexes rounded off, and the length and width of which vary depending upon the type of skiing to be performed, the stems having, in the same track portion, either equal or suitably different lengths.

The linear plastic structural shape according to the present invention is preferably shaped like equilateral triangles of appropriate dimensions, in which there are possibly inscribed further equilateral triangles depending on the sliding characteristics which are to be imparted to the ski slope.

Alternatively, the structural shape according to this invention may be shaped so as to have a quadrilateral shape inside which two diagonal lines, or two lines disposed at the symmetry axes, or several lines which are symmetrical, orthogonal and parallel to the sides of the square itself, may be present.

The same structural shapes may also show a rectangular shape, or even other regular or irregular geometrical configurations, in which other structural shapes may be defined serving to form differing geometrical shapes inside the former ones.

Depending upon the configuration imparted to the structural shape, it is possible to build a man-made ski slope having predetermined characteristics and adapted to meet the various ski specialties, such as a straight race, slalom, plain race and jump.

All the aforesaid types of composite structural shapes may be obtained in continuous strip form by using a die-casting process or by casting under deep vacuum melting.

It should be noted here that the ski slope as a whole is obtained by using a suitable number of the aforementioned continuous strips in relation to the width which is to be imparted to the ski slope itself.

The connection of different strips is preferably carried out by means of heat-pressure welding so as to obtain a perfectly compact basic structure.

The upper surface of the plastic structural shape supporting the stems appears rounded off, namely it may be for example of a semi-circular, semi-elliptical, semioval or even triangular shape so that the ferrule of the ski pole cannot enter and penetrate the base of the structural shape, but slides thereover.

Damage to the ski slope is thus avoided and at the same time it is possible to remove the risk that the skier might be unbalanced.

The stems, with which the structural shape is provided, have excellent elasticity even in torsion, good flexibility and high hysteresis.

The ends of the stems themselves are further subjected to a flaming treatment, namely to heating in the presence of a flame at low or medium temperature.

The flaming treatment permits a particular spherical head finish to be imparted to the ends, thereby simultaneously making the stems more flexible and imparting to them good sliding characteristics.

The stems may be either single or double stems and may be arranged side-by-side within a limited number of rows so as to allow a constant good sliding of the ferrules of the ski poles.

These and further characteristic: features of a functional and constructional nature of the man-made ski I slope according to the present invention will be better understood from aperusalof the following detailed description and the various figures given on the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a man-made ski slope according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 represents a schematic view of the cross section of the ski slope in FIG. 1 in a plane through the line A-A;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a ski slope provided with parallel double stems;

FIG. 4 is a view of one of the various forms of basic structures, obtainable from the aforesaid structural shapes;

FIGS. 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d represent views of further possible arrangement of the structural shapes for building up a ski slope according to the present invention;

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 are a perspective side views of plastic structural shapes, supporting one, two or three bristles, respectively, and having a suitably curved profile;

FIG. 9 represents, in side view, various stem types which are differently fractionated at their upper ends;

FIG. 10 shows two side views of feathered stems, that is to say, stems provided with a base, fractionated intermediate portions and a unitary upper portion;

FIG. 11 illustrates stems of a different heights.

Referring now particularly to the numerical symbols appearing on the various figures of the accompanying drawing, the man-made ski slope according to the present invention includes a linear plastic structural shape 1, supporting the stems 4 and variously coordinated with other like structural shapes so as to build a structure, showing a preferably regular geometrical configuration.

The above-mentioned linear plastic structural shape 1, supporting the stems 4 is characterized in that it shows a lower flat support surface 2 and an upper curved surface 3.

More accurately, such surface 3 of the plastic structural shape I may have a semi-circular, or semielliptical or triangular configuration so that the ferrule of the ski poles is not allowed to enter the body of the structural shape itself, but slides thereover.

The linear plastic structural shape I is provided with a plurality of flexible stems 4, consisting also of plastic material, fused with the structural shape itself and disposed perpendicularly to the latter at the upper surface The stems preferably have a conical configuration with the upper apex 5 rounded off so as to promote the sliding of the skis.

Alternatively, the supporting structural shape ll may be provided with parallel pairs of stems 6 and 6 arranged side-by-side, having the same base and having their upper apexes rounded off (FIG. 3).

As another alternative, the stems 4 may be fractionated into several bristles 11 at their upper ends as depicted in FIG. 9.

Under certain circumstances, in which it is necessary to impart a good softness to the stems, but at the same time a good angle hold, it will be possible to use feathered stems, as illustrated in FIG. 10, provided with a base 4 and fractionated intermediate portions 12, but connected at their upper end 13.

In FIG. 11 there are depicted, in side view, some stems 4' and 4" having different lengths.

The structural shape, fitted with stems, thus obtained. is normally made up during the pressing process of equilateral triangles 7 in which further equilateral triangles 8 may be inserted depending on the skiing specialty for which the ski slope should be desirably used.

The aforesaid structural shape may also be made up of squares 9 and 9 (FIGS. 5a and 50) or of a rectangular shape subdivided into triangles 10 and 10' (FIGS. 5b and 5d).

In this way, with a proper combination of the various basic geometrical figures it is possible to obtain a ski slope which is sufficiently adapted for all skiing specialties.

The connection between the various individual tracks to build up a ski slope of the required dimensions may be carried out by a heat-pressure welding.

In regard to the width of the plastic structural shape 1, supporting the stems 4, it may vary between 0.4 and 2 cm. as a function of the type of skiing to be performed and the results desired; the limited width, together with the particular configuration of the structural shape prevent the ferrules of the ski poles from penetrating the structural shape itself which may damage the latter and cause injurious falls of the skiers.

The thus obtained ski slope has excellent elasticity characteristics, including torsional elasticity characteristics, and excellent softness and sliding characteristics, providing at the same time for the ski a perfect angle hold.

The ski slope according to the present invention affords further the great advantage that in case of breakage, the repair may be made by cutting away the broken portion and replacing it with a corresponding new portion which is fastened to the basic structural shape by heat-pressure welding.

Furthermore, in view of the limited surface of the individual empty or lightening zones 14 of the ski slope, the skis and the limbs of the skier cannot accidentally penetrate between the various links of the cellular structure of the ski slope in case of falls.

The instant ski slope is consequently safer than those of the prior art.

In the practical embodiment of the present invention several changes and modifications as to shape, dimensions and construction may be made in the ski slope according to the present invention without departing from the scope of this invention.

I claim:

I. An artificial ski slope, comprising a support portion, and another portion fast with and supported by the latter and constituting a base for skiing, said support portion including a plurality of elongated structural elements of substantially linear configuration arranged so as to define with one another a plurality of polygonal openings extending through said support portion with each of said elements forming at least part of the side of a polygon, and said other portion including a plurality of elongated elastically yieldable members extending upwardly from said support portion.

2. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said elements is connected with at least one other of said elements.

3. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said elements has a width of substantially 0.4 to 2 centimeters.

4. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said elements having an upper surface; and wherein said surfaces are arcuate.

5. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 4, wherein said surfaces have a semi-circular configuratron.

6. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 4, wherein said surfaces have a semi-elliptical configuratron.

7. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 4, wherein said surfaces have a semi-oval configuration.

8. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said elements having an upper surface; and wherein each of said surfaces comprises two mutually inclined surface portions.

9. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 8, wherein said surfaces have a triangular configuration.

10. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein said members extend substantially normal to the respective elements.

11. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1,

13. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said members having an end fast with said support portion, and another end spaced from the latter; and wherein at least some of said members are provided with an opening intermediate their respective ends.

14. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said members having an end spaced from said support portion; and wherein at least some of said members are connected with each other at their respective ends.

15. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said members having an end spaced from said support portion; and wherein said ends are rounded.

16. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1,

wherein all of said members are of substantially equal length. r

17. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein said members are of different length.

18. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein said members are arranged in rows extending in the direction of elongation of the respective elements.

19. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, said members being arranged in substantially parallel rows extending in the direction of elongation of the respective elements; and wherein the respective members of two adjacent rows are arranged laterally adjacent one another.

20. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 19, wherein at most four of said members are arranged laterally adjacent one another.

21. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein at least some of said polygons are triangles.

22. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 21, wherein said triangles are equilateral triangles.

23. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein at least some of said polygons are rectangles.

component is in use so as to form a base for skiing. 

1. An artificial ski slope, comprising a support portion, and another portion fast with and supported by the latter and constituting a base for skiing, said support portion including a plurality of elongated structural elements of substantially linear configuration arranged so as to define with one another a plurality of polygonal openings extending through said support portion with each of said elements forming at least part of the side of a polygon, and said other portion including a plurality of elongated elastically yieldable members extending upwardly from said support portion.
 2. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said elements is connected with at least one other of said elements.
 3. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said elements has a width of substantially 0.4 to 2 centimeters.
 4. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said elements having an upper surface; and wherein said surfaces are arcuate.
 5. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 4, wherein said surfaces have a semi-circular configuration.
 6. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 4, wherein said surfaces have a semi-elliptical configuration.
 7. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 4, wherein said surfaces have a semi-oval configuration.
 8. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said elements having an upper surface; and wherein each of said surfaces comprises two mutually inclined surface portions.
 9. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 8, wherein said surfaces have a triangular configuration.
 10. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein said members extend substantially normal to the respective elements.
 11. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein said members have a substantially conical configuration.
 12. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said members having a base section fast with said support portion, and another section extending from said base section; and wherein said other section is subdivided into a plurality of elastically yieldable portions.
 13. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said members having an end fast with said support portion, and another end spaced from the latter; and wherein at least some of said members are provided with an opening intermediate their respective ends.
 14. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said members having an end spaced from said support portion; and wherein at least some of said members are connected with each otHer at their respective ends.
 15. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, each of said members having an end spaced from said support portion; and wherein said ends are rounded.
 16. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein all of said members are of substantially equal length.
 17. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein said members are of different length.
 18. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein said members are arranged in rows extending in the direction of elongation of the respective elements.
 19. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, said members being arranged in substantially parallel rows extending in the direction of elongation of the respective elements; and wherein the respective members of two adjacent rows are arranged laterally adjacent one another.
 20. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 19, wherein at most four of said members are arranged laterally adjacent one another.
 21. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein at least some of said polygons are triangles.
 22. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 21, wherein said triangles are equilateral triangles.
 23. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein at least some of said polygons are rectangles.
 24. An artificial ski slope as defined in claim 1, wherein at least some of said polygons are squares.
 25. As a novel article of manufacture, a structural component for use in making artificial ski slopes, comprising an elongated first portion of substantially linear configuration; and a plurality of elongated elastically yieldable second portions fast with said first portion and extending outwardly therefrom, said second portions being adapted to be upwardly directed when said component is in use so as to form a base for skiing. 